The Importance Of Communication Training (And How It Can Benefit Your Company)

As businesses adapt to new ways of working post-pandemic, good communication skills are more valuable than ever. Business communication training is an invaluable way to ensure your team stays productive, motivated and focused whether they are communicating face to face, virtually or hybrid, ensuring that client and customer relationships can be future-proofed. 

It’s easy to take communication for granted – after all, we all know how to have a conversation, send an email or talk to clients! But if you want to communicate effectively, you need a careful balance of a clear message, congruent body language and an ability to use deep listening skills to get the results you deserve from your meetings, presentations or conversations.

What is communication training? 

Business communication training allows you to develop and hone skills that will give you more clarity, control and authority over your message in every situation. Whether that’s talking internally to your team, presenting in front of large audiences or writing content for social media.

Communication training encompasses a wide range of different skills, which can include: 

• Learning the art of persuasion  

The art of persuasion is key in business and something we need to do daily. Whether you’re pitching for investment, selling a product or trying to convince your team about a new idea, you will frequently encounter situations where you need to persuade people. Your success is not always determined by the strength of your idea or content but how you communicate it. 

Business communication training can teach you the psychology of persuasion and how you can weave it into your presentations, pitches, emails or conversations so that more people take action on your ideas. 

• Using body language and gestures 

The best speakers worldwide use carefully practised posture and gestures to communicate their message. From presidents to presenters, politicians to performers, body language is essential in demonstrating gravitas and authority that words and clothing alone cannot do. 

By learning to use body language and gestures to support your message, you can significantly increase your influence over an audience and how well you are perceived as a good leader. 

• Vocal communication skills

Communication training can also help you to make the most out of your voice.

By analysing your speaking style carefully with the help of a coach, you can discover how you really sound: are you more authoritative or motivational? Entertaining or commanding? 

Voice training will give you a toolkit of skills that you can use to adapt your message appropriately for different audiences or situations and help you to communicate your message with clarity and conviction. 

• Questioning and listening skills

How much do you listen when talking to your colleagues or employees? 

An important part of communication training involves targeted questioning and listening skills, which will allow you to understand a person’s idea, experience or point of view on a deeper level. By knowing how to ask the right questions, you’ll be able to facilitate better conversations, allowing you to explore new avenues for discussion, problem-solving and creativity. 

• Objection handling

Tackling objections goes hand in hand with questioning and listening, and conflict resolution is essential to communication training. 

You can learn how to deal with difficult questions and persistent objections so that you can buy yourself thinking time, empathise genuinely with the person who is objecting and work towards a mutually beneficial solution without getting in a fluster or escalating the situation.  

• Improving your visual aids 

Have you ever experienced ‘Death by Powerpoint?

It’s so common within business presentations, as we are tempted to fill slide decks with redundant information and incomprehensible statistics which don’t serve our audience or our message. 

Business communication training can help you improve your visual aids to engage and enhance your message to make it more memorable. 

• Finding engaging ways to share dry data, statistics and updates

How can you make dry, dull data and statistics engaging and memorable? It’s tricky and something many businesses fail at, producing excruciatingly boring presentations that are hard to follow. 

Communication skills training can help you discover the hidden stories within your data or updates to deliver it in a much more compelling way – without sending your audience to sleep!  

How can communication training benefit a business? 

Communication training offers enormous benefits to businesses, including: 

• Helping you grow your executive presence 

Improving your communication skills will help grow your presence as a leader and give you the respect you deserve. Through careful and congruent use of body language and gestures, you can increase how knowledgeable and trustworthy you appear to audiences and improve your rating as a good leader. 

Communication training will also give you the skills to improve your persuasion and conflict resolution abilities, which will help grow your executive presence.

• Boosting employee confidence

A key benefit of communication training is helping employees of all levels to boost their confidence when speaking, presenting or sharing their thoughts or ideas.

Business communication training can help employees organise their ideas so that they are less intimidated by preparing presentations. Body language training can give tried-and-tested confidence-boosting skills to even the most nervous speakers. 

• Resolving problems more quickly

Learning how to listen, empathise and ask questions will allow you to resolve problems much more quickly. Communication training can equip you with the skills to diffuse a tense situation and to understand challenges from the other person’s perspective. By getting to the bottom of problems more quickly and showing empathy towards the other person, you’ll be able to find mutually-beneficial outcomes before an issue worsens. 

• Telling your story (and working out what it is)

Sometimes, the stories we try to tell about ourselves or our company can be confusing or hard to follow. Maybe you’re not even sure what your own story is!  

Storytelling is a vital part of business communication training. Understanding the type of stories humans respond to can help you establish your or your company’s real story and ensure it is compelling enough for audiences to engage with it. 

• Improving staff morale 

Teams that can communicate better can have deeper, more meaningful conversations. Encouraging staff to speak and promoting deeper listening means more voices can be heard, making staff feel valued. Better communication also means that creativity can blossom.  

• Improving your virtual presence

As teams increasingly work virtually or in hybrid environments, it’s essential to have as strong an impact on screen as you would face to face. Training in business communication can teach you the skills behind having great camera presence and facilitating complex virtual calls. 

Why is communication skills training important?

Training in communication benefits employees at every level of an organisation, from new graduates to CEOs. Even if you are a confident communicator, engaging in communication training can help to expose bad presentation habits that you don’t even realise you do and allow you to speak more fluidly and authoritatively. 

Clear communication has never been more critical than now. Teams that would traditionally share an office space are now much more spread out, meeting on virtual calls or through hybrid events. Communication training can help staff ensure they can have the same influence, whether speaking online or in a room. It can also give employers the tools to better facilitate these meetings so that everyone can participate equally. 

Do you want to improve your communication skills?

Body Talk offers a range of courses that can help boost your business’s communication skills. Get in touch with us today, and we’ll work with you to discuss your specific needs and find the best communication course for your business.